UC San Diego

Richard Goerling has served in civilian law enforcement for over twenty years. He also served as a member of the U.S. Coast Guard, both active and reserve for 27 years, retiring at the rank of Commander in 2015. He’s had a front row seat to operational stress in both arenas and has spent the last decade as a student, and now trainer, of resiliency. Over the last decade, he has spearheaded the introduction of mindfulness training into policing in the United States and internationally as part of a larger cultural transformation toward a compassionate, skillful and resilient warrior ethos. He serves as an affiliate faculty at Pacific University’s Graduate School of Professional Psychology and participates in mindfulness research at this institution. Richard regularly trains and presents on resiliency for first responders, bringing practical mindfulness skill building to enhance personal, organizational and community.

Neha Chawla, PhD is one of the co-creators of MBRP and co-author of the Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention for Addictive Behaviors: A Clinician’s Guide. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Addictive Behaviors Research Center at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her research interests include the development and evaluation of mindfulness-based treatments for substance use disorders, understanding mechanisms of change, issues related to therapist training and dissemination, and the assessment of therapist competence. Neha has facilitated several MBRP groups in private and community treatment settings in Seattle and on the East-coast.

Sarah Bowen, PhD. is a clinical psychologist, is Associate Professor at Pacific University in Portland, Oregon, where she specializes in mindfulness-based approaches for treatment of addictive and impulsive behaviors. Her research and more than 50 publications have focused on mechanisms of change and on treatment adaptations to best serve diverse populations and settings, with particular interests in dual diagnosis and underserved communities. Dr. Bowen facilitates and supervises mindfulness-based relapse prevention groups in numerous settings, including private and county treatment agencies, medical centers, and prisons. She presents, consults, and provides instruction internationally.

Carolina Bautista-Velez is a Latinx social changer who believes in the power of individual and collective liberation. Through her work as a consultant, mindfulness teacher, facilitator and leadership coach, Carolina works with groups and organizations by co-creating spaces that foster, uplift and sustain systems of care, healing and well-being. Her work is rooted in healing justice, popular education and trauma informed practices. Carolina is a Certified MSC Teacher, Qualified MBSR Teacher, MMTCP Certified Mindfulness Teacher and MMT certified Mindfulness Mentor. She is the founder of CVelez Consulting & Metamorphosis-Coaching. Carolina holds a degree in clinical psychology with a specialization in social psychology and psychoanalysis.

 

Betsy Atwell, MA, LPC, CSAC, ICS is a practicing therapist in Madison, Wisconsin, specializing in populations that struggle with addiction and trauma. She completed the Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP) training in 2016 and has run the group at a community mental health agency since then. In 2019, she participated in a research study on MBRP with the University of Wisconsin, Madison which allowed her the opportunity to work with Sarah Bowen to ensure fidelity to the model. Betsy actively practices meditation in her personal life and finds that it enhances her skills with other treatment modalities including EMDR and IFS, as well as clinical supervision.

Jon Aaron has been a teacher at New York Insight since 2006. His principal dharma teachers have been Matthew Flickstein of The Forest Way and Kittisaro and Thanissara of The Sacred Mountain Sangha. He is a Certified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Teacher and Teacher Trainer and has taught over 120 cycles of the seminal curriculum. He leads retreats in the US and in Europe. He is the co-guiding teacher of the Makom Meditation Havurah program at the Jewish Community Center. He is a certified Somatic Experience Practitioner® and an Accredited teacher of Mindfulness for Heath from Breathworks in the UK. Jon is a co-founder of the MBSR Teachers Collaborative of Greater New York, and a founding member of the Global Mindfulness Collaborative. Recently with his partner Upayadhi, he established Space2Meditate.com, an online community for meditators which started in the context of the pandemic and has been thriving ever since. JonAaron.net

Dr. Laura Case is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at UC San Diego. She received her PhD in Psychology and Cognitive Science from UC San Diego and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). Dr. Case’s NIH-funded research uses brain imaging, pharmacologic manipulation, and sensory and behavioral testing to evaluate neural and psychological mechanisms involved in affective touch and pain perception. She is a co-I on the Neurons_MATTR U24 grant working to nucleate the field of research on mechanisms of touch and force-based therapies. She also founded a faculty peer mentoring program for UC San Diego Health Sciences and is passionate about building scientific culture that is creative, collaborative, and caring.

Natalie is the founder of Mindful Wellness, a training and coaching platform to help you build your own source of calm, clarity, and powerful resilience. Her approach brings the benefits of mindfulness, meditation, and compassion training into the practical realm of our daily lives teaching you to discover calm and balance in a common sense, relatable manner.

Natalie is a senior certified teacher and the Director of Program Development for the global Center for Mindful Self-Compassion overseeing programs on Mindfulness and Self-Compassion for the public, healthcare professionals, and Mindful Self-Compassion teachers. She is the co-author, with Dr. Kristin Neff and Dr. Chris Germer, of the “Self-Compassion Training for Healthcare Professionals” program, the only self-compassion training available for healthcare providers. Natalie also supported the development of the NEW Fierce Self-Compassion 8-wk course with Kristin Neff and the Self-Compassion for Shame 8-wk course with Chris Germer. Natalie is also a faculty member of UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center, MARC, as a certified mindfulness teacher.

As a leading teacher of mindfulness and self-compassion she works globally with individuals and companies. Natalie has been practicing mindfulness and meditation since 1985 and lived in an ashram for a year in 1989 dedicating herself to intensive practice of meditation and self-compassion. After studying neuropsychology she became a Physical Therapist, working for 17 years as a clinician, Director of Rehabilitation, and a clinical specialist for medical devices in rehabilitation.

Natalie has been featured in Today, Travel and Leisure, the LA Times, MSNBC Your Business, and Thrive Global for her passionate embodiment of presence and compassion. She has brought her work to Fortune 500 companies, CEOs and organizations like NBC Universal, the Milken Institute, Getty Foundation, Wharton, and many others. She believes our work is to learn how to become our own best ally so we can thrive is today’s over-busy world. Her programs and retreats allow you to experience deeper fulfillment and happiness, reconnect with your own joy, and feel more calm and connected.

Sara Schairer is the founder and executive director of Compassion It®, a nonprofit organization and global social movement whose mission is to inspire daily compassionate actions and attitudes. She created the one-of-a-kind reversible Compassion It® wristband that inspires compassion on six continents, 50+ countries and all 50 US states.

​Sara develops and leads experiential workshops on burnout prevention, implicit bias, mindfulness, and compassion. A senior facilitator of Compassion Cultivation Training® (CCT) course developed at Stanford, Sara has led courses at the UCSD Center for Mindfulness, Kaiser Permanente, the Naval Medical Center, Donovan Prison, and Las Colinas Women's Detention and Reentry Facility. She also facilitated trainings in Africa sponsored by the Botswana Ministries of Health and Education.

​Sara is contributing author to the book The Neuroscience of Learning and Development: Enhancing Creativity, Compassion, Critical Thinking and Peace in Education and guest blogs for the Chopra Center for Wellbeing. Her most rewarding and challenging role is being the mother of 12-year-old Hannah.

Dr. Deborah Rana is a board-certified Pediatrician and an HS Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Medicine. Dr. Rana received her MD from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine and completed her residency in Pediatrics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Prior to moving to UCSD, she was an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School where she completed her fellowship in Medical Education. Dr. Rana is also a certified Mindful Self Compassion and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher. She joined the Center for Mindfulness in 2010 where she currently teaches MBSR, Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) and Self-Compassion for Healthcare Communities (SCHC). Dr. Rana has presented many national workshops for faculty physicians on resilience and well-being applying the tools of mindfulness and self-compassion to clinical medicine. She also co-authored a national on-line curriculum developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics on resilience for residents, fellows, and faculty . Dr. Rana continues to see patients at San Ysidro Health, whose mission is to improve the health and well-being of the communities we serve with access for all.